Franklin Graham: Romney's Mormonism Doesn't Bother Me

**WKUHilltopper** · December-20th-2011, 12:54 PM

“Yes, the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon doesn’t bother me at all,” Graham told CBN.

Heck, why not just vote for a voodoo priest as President? Nothing seems to matter anyway.

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The Christian Post > Politics|Mon, Dec. 19 2011 06:05 PM EDT

Franklin Graham: Romney's Mormonism Doesn't Bother Me
By Paul Stanley | Christian Post Reporter

Evangelical minster Franklin Graham said voters should look past a candidate’s personal religion when considering whom they should support for office. Graham offered his advice in a recent interview with The Christian Broadcasting Network when asked if Christians could vote for someone who is a Mormon.

“Yes, the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon doesn’t bother me at all,” Graham told CBN.

Two candidates seeking the GOP nomination for president who are Mormons are Romney and Jon Huntsman. They are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Graham said voters should select a candidate who is most qualified, beyond anything else.

“You can have the nicest guy and he can be a Christian and just wonderful but have absolutely no clue as to how to run a country, you don’t want that … Mitt Romney is a very capable fellow, I know him. I know Newt Gingrich, another capable person; Michele Bachmann, a very capable lady; Rick Santorum, I like a lot, very gifted guy, a very sharp person and so there are some good candidates out there.”

Graham’s primary concern about the 2012 election is that he feels the country is heading in the wrong direction, saying the next election is “the most critical election of my lifetime.”

The evangelist sees the direction of the country as the number one priority for the next president.

“Our country is heading on the wrong course,” said Graham. “There are millions and millions of people out there that are out of work and there are people out there now that have been out of work so long they are not even looking for work because they are so discouraged.”

Praying for our leaders and our country is what Graham suggested of Christians, saying that irrespective of political party, the country needs elected officials “who will put God’s standards above everything else and who will take us back to the God of our fathers.”

“[O]ur country is going in the wrong direction and we need to make a change.”

Romney, who has picked up the endorsement of several mainstream Republicans – most notably former Kansas Senator Bob Dole and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley – has also secured the endorsement of Iowa’s leading newspaper, The Des Moines Register, over the weekend.

Although some polls have shown Gingrich behind both Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the most recent Gallup poll released on Monday shows that Romney and Gingrich are neck and neck going into the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses, with Romney at 26 percent and Gingrich at 24 percent.

Franklin Graham: Romney's Mormonism Doesn't Bother Me, Christian News

**mattfivefour** · December-20th-2011, 02:27 PM

Hilltopper, there is another thread on this started a day or two ago. A number of replies in it. If I find it, I will merge them.

For the record, the headline is sensationalist and wrong. Franklin did NOT say that Romney's Mormonism doesn't bother him. He in no way endorses that Satanic religion. What he said was, in the context of qualifications for president, he is not bothered by the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon. There is a big difference between not being bothered by a religion and its teachings, and not being bothered by someone who believes in that religion. Franklin said the latter. American presidents have been Protestant (of differing flavors), Roman Catholic, Jewish, and atheist. Some of them have been good; most not so good; a few bad. Franklin says this is a critical time for America and a most important election. Therefore, as the article makes clear, as a religious leader he is advising Americans not to choose their next president on the basis of religious belief, but on the basis of qualifications and ability to do the job. In fact he says: "You can have the nicest guy and he can be a Christian and just wonderful but have absolutely no clue as to how to run a country, you don’t want that."

As I read this sentence, it seems to me that Franklin is personally leaning toward Rick Santorum: "Mitt Romney is a very capable fellow, I know him. I know Newt Gingrich, another capable person; Michele Bachmann, a very capable lady; Rick Santorum, I like a lot, very gifted guy, a very sharp person and so there are some good candidates out there."